


miss you

by eightbots



Category: Avatar: Legend of Korra
Genre: Childhood Friends, F/F
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-11-01
Updated: 2014-11-01
Packaged: 2018-02-23 12:41:05
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 875
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2547827
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/eightbots/pseuds/eightbots
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>A year after Kuvira left Zaofu, she and Opal meet again for the first time in Republic City.</p>
            </blockquote>





	miss you

**Author's Note:**

> you write for a crack pairing ONCE and then it never gets out of your head. Suyin's revelation that Kuvira was like a daughter to her didn't help at all, since that pretty much guarantees she and Opal were close. Kuvira didn't have any siblings, and Opal only had brothers. that automatically translates to "huge awkward crush" in fanfics

Opal was tired. She'd just returned from the Earth Kingdom a few hours ago, and there was nothing she wanted more than to go back to her room on Air Temple Island and sleep for a week. But while she was on the docks waiting for a boat, she spotted a familiar face among the sea of workers and sailors.

A closely-huddled group of men and women stood apart from the crowd. They were all wearing distinctive green uniforms, very unlike the clothes people in Republic City usually wore. She recognized some of them vaguely from Zaofu, mostly influential citizens or ex-guards, but the only face that looked truly familiar to her was Kuvira's. The moment Opal spotted her, Kuvira turned her head and their eyes locked. The older woman's hard face softened slightly. 

She silenced her officers with a wave of her hand and sent them off somewhere, while she herself approached Opal.

“It’s nice to see you-“ she began, but Opal interrupted her.

“I have nothing to say to you.” She crossed her arms.

Kuvira’s face fell, then went back to its previous expression.

“It’s been a year, Opal. I only wanted to say hello.”

“Well now you’ve said it, so you might as well leave with your cronies.”

At that, Kuvira’s face hardened into an expression it had definitely never made when they were growing up in Zaofu. Opal felt a pang of guilt, and she quickly backtracked.

“How could you leave us like that? You went behind everybody’s back. You even took my brother!”

“I didn’t force Bataar to go anywhere,” Kuvira countered, crossing her own arms. “He made his choice. I merely offered him the possibility of doing something with his life. Please, I don’t want to argue with you. I understand why you’d want to hold a grudge against me, but haven’t we brought peace to the Earth Kingdom?”

Opal sighed. “At the start. But your methods have been getting more and more extreme. Did you really think no one would notice?” She looked Kuvira in the eyes, trying to read the older woman’s reaction.

But she remained impassive. “We use whatever methods we have to help people. After we stabilized Ba Sing Se, the world leaders asked me to unite the Earth Kingdom, which is precisely what I’m doing. Right now, everyone’s out for themselves, and if it takes a heavy hand to bring them to heel, then it might as well be mine. Someone has to make the tough decisions and you know it, Opal.”

The younger woman didn’t reply and instead turned her back on Kuvira, arms still crossed. She heard steps on the asphalt and a moment later, a hand was on her shoulder.

“Please, I don’t want to argue with you over politics. We used to be close, we grew up together. Is it really worth throwing all that away because of something that happened a year ago?”

Opal’s shoulders slumped and she turned around, her tired eyes met with a small smile.

“I guess not,” she resigned. “I still don’t agree with what you’re doing, but I’m too tired to argue right now.”

Kuvira’s smile widened. 

“I’m glad to hear that, at least.” They stood around silently for a few seconds before Kuvira spoke up again.

“I’ve heard you’ve been going on missions with the other airbenders. We met a few in the towns we’ve visited so far, but I haven’t seen you in any of them yet,” she said conversationally.

“We’re pretty spread out,” Opal replied. “I’ve been stationed in a village outside of Omashu for the last few weeks. I just took the train back today. I left my bison with the villagers for a while to help with the rebuilding, and I had to walk part of the way here because of the track renovations.  
“My legs feel like they’re about to fall off,” she huffed, angry at herself for forgetting her glider.

Kuvira chuckled. “Sounds like you’ve got a lot on your plate. You should really get some rest.”

“Believe me I want to, but the stupid ferry isn’t showing up.” She shot a glance at Yue Bay.

Kuvira raised her eyebrows. “You could-“ she began, only to be interrupted for the second time that day.

The green-uniformed officers emerged from the crowd once again, and Kuvira followed Opal’s gaze to them. Her expression became serious once more.

“I’m afraid I have to go. It was nice to catch up with you after all this time, though. I hope we get the chance to more often.”

“Yeah,” Opal sighed. “Tell Bolin I said hi. And my brother too, I guess.”

Kuvira nodded. “I will.” She hesitated, then leaned down and pressed a quick kiss to Opal’s cheek.

“I’m sorry it turned out like this,” she sighed, matching Opal’s tone. “Maybe we’ll cross paths in the Earth Kingdom one of these days.” 

With that, she turned around and left, shooting Opal one last half-smile over her shoulder. Opal half-heartedly waved after her childhood friend-turned-military leader, but she was quickly swallowed by the crowd.

Opal wandered off in the direction of the water, trying to figure out whether it was okay to miss Kuvira more than she missed her eldest brother.

**Author's Note:**

> so uh, a few things. since this is the first fic I'm posting on this account I should point out that I have [another one](http://archiveofourown.org/users/irritableDemiurge)[](http://archiveofourown.org/users/irritableDemiurge). since I had no idea what I was doing when I made it it's sort of messed up and I made a new one. anything new I publish will be published here and on my (also new) [writing blog](http://acebats.tumblr.com/)[](http://acebats.tumblr.com/).
> 
> shameless self-promotion aside, I doubt this is the last I'll write for this pairing. I'm in too deep.


End file.
